Ryder Cup star calls BS on Jon Rahm, LIV defectors: “They own you”

Shane Lowry is sick and tired of hearing players bolting to LIV Golf for the sake of ‘growing the game.’

In the wake of Jon Rahm’s departure to the Saudi-backed tour, the European Ryder Cup star revealed his true feelings about the state of professional golf with The Irish Independent.

“I think what [Rahm] said about growing the game and stuff. That’s obviously what they have to say,” Lowry said.

“They’ve signed on the dotted line. They’ve been told by the [LIV Golf] communications team that this is what you say when you’re asked this, and you have no other choice really because they own you now.”

Lowry’s comments about ‘owning you now’ come a week after Rahm made a public appearance in his native Spain. The two-time major champion admitted to being “under very strict instructions not to do public events,” according to Reuters.

LIV Golf’s beneficiary is the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), the sovereign wealth fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia allegedly forbids freedom of the press and controls the media. Hence the perception of Lowry saying that LIV Golf ‘owns you now.’ Freedom House, a non-profit advocacy group that supports global democracy, gave Saudi Arabia a 7/100 score on its ‘Freedom Scale,’ which measures the political freedom a country’s citizens have.

“Obviously, the past two years, there’s been a lot of evolving in the game of golf; things have changed a lot, and so have I,” Rahm said in the wake of his announcement.

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“Seeing the growth of LIV Golf, seeing the evolution of LIV Golf and innovation is something that has really captured my attention. I think the growth that I’ve seen and how it’s become a global business, right, and how we can impact golf globally, and in a much meaningful way, is something that’s been very enticing.”

These comments from Rahm on Dec. 7 elicited Lowry to make the comments he did.

But the Irishman continued to provide perspective on the current state of professional golf.

“I don’t know if [LIV Golf] has been dama,ging but people who have spent their hard-earned money, [who go] out to join a golf club, and buy golf clubs and play golf for the weekend, it’s tough for them to listen to the guy who’s already worth whatever say he has to do this to put food on the table for his wife and kids,” Lowry said.

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Yet, despite these remarks, Lowry still feels Rahm should play on the Ryder Cup team. After all, the Europeans will need Rahm in 2025, when Bethpage Black awaits them.